Instagram finally released their highly anticipated video editing app, Edits, and it’s clear they’re aiming to become a one-stop shop for creators. Designed specifically for the content creator workflow, Edits combines inspiration sourcing, video planning, editing, and analytics—all in one app.

We gave it a try, and here’s everything you need to know:

Features We Loved

🗒️ Stickies for Ideas:
If you’re a Notes app loyalist, you’ll love the Ideas tab. You can create “stickies” to save content ideas whenever inspiration strikes, plus quickly access saved videos and collections to spark your next post.

💡 Built-in Inspiration:
The Inspiration tab lets you scroll your Reels feed and save trending videos or audio directly to your collections. It keeps everything within the Instagram ecosystem—no more bouncing between apps to track trends.

📊 More In-Depth Insights:
The Insights tab offers deeper analytics than the main Instagram app, including a retention rate graph that pinpoints exactly where viewers drop off—giving you clear data on what’s working (and what’s not).

🎬 Easy Editing Interface:
The editing tools are comparable to apps like CapCut or InShot, but we actually preferred Edits’ interface—it’s smoother, cleaner, and more beginner-friendly.

Notable Editing Features

• CutOuts: Isolate a subject within your video and layer it over other media for dynamic, scroll-stopping content.
• Green Screen: Their green screen tool is intuitive—just one tap to record in-app. 
• AI Animation Tool: This lets you animate still images into videos. It’s a standout feature, but the execution needs work—our tests came out blurry and low-res.
• Edits offers more fonts, text animations, video transitions and sound affects than the native Instagram editing experience, with more in the works.
  

Features That Fell Flat

• As mentioned, the AI animation tool isn’t quite ready for primetime.
• There’s no easy way to switch between multiple accounts—social media managers, beware.
• You can export videos without a watermark (great for cross-posting), but you can’t export with sound.
• The auto-captions tool needs some work. It’s difficult to edit and time captions properly, making the process more frustrating than helpful.
• The in-app camera didn’t impress us—the video quality felt noticeably lower than shooting directly with our phone’s native camera.
  

Features We’d Love to See

• Collaboration Tools: Instagram has hinted at future features that allow creators to co-edit and share projects. Yes, please!
  
• Keyframes: A must-have for advanced editors who want precise animation control (like mimicking mouse clicks or zoom-ins).
  
• Desktop Access: Edits is clearly designed for mobile-first creators, but we’d still love to have a desktop version one day.

Things to Know

📈 Reels edited and published through Edits may get a boost.
Instagram is reportedly prioritizing Reels created in Edits, so even if you edit elsewhere, running your video through the app before posting could be worth the extra step.

💸 Edits is free—for now.
The app is currently free to use, but Instagram has hinted at future premium features that may come with a price tag.

🔐 You need an Instagram account to use Edits.
Logging in via your Instagram account is required, and deleting that account will also delete your Edits data.

⏱️ 10-minute video limit.
Whether you're filming or editing inside the app, videos are capped at 10 minutes in length.

Our Verdict:

Instagram’s Edits app is a promising first step toward an all-in-one content creation hub. It’s intuitive, visually clean, and thoughtfully designed for creators—but it’s not without its limitations.

If you’re a beginner editor or someone who sticks to simple, short-form videos, Edits could quickly become a go-to tool in your workflow (as long as you’re okay navigating a few growing pains).

However, if you’re a more experienced editor who relies on CapCut’s advanced features or detailed editing tools, you might find Edits a bit underpowered—for now. It may be worth waiting to see what future premium features bring to the table.

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